At the current European Council Summit, EU leaders yesterday agreed on a comprise to unlock the stalled discussions over the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) as well as the Covid-19 recovery package NextGenerationEU (NGEU). 

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the German Presidency of the EU Council and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen all confirmed the news. 

The talks had previously reached a deadlock as Hungary and Poland objected to a new Rule of Law conditionality mechanism that is meant to protect the EU budget. 

The European Parliament will still have to vote on the package before implementation can begin in the new year.

Additionally, Parliament and Council negotiatiors today reached a political agreement on Horizen Europe as well as a provisional agreement on the European Solidarity Corps.

What it means for sport: A number of programmes, such as Erasmus, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and the new EU4Health Programme are part of the MFF and NGEU and can potentially benefit the sport sector through funding options. A timely implementation would therefore be welcomed and partners from organised sport are advised to actively familiarize themselves with the different support measures and options that may fit their needs.
However, negotiations on some of these programmes are still ongoing and the texts are yet to be finalised. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether sport will be included, e.g. in the ERDF, as advocated by the EOC EU Office.

A good overview of the financial size of the different programmes can be found here.